ismith
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Now THATS how it's done, congrats sir!
19 years in the making
- Thread starter Gr8bawana
- Start date
BradA
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Heck yeah congratulations! Beautiful ram. What did the state score him at ?
sneakypete
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Congratulations
Mica Man
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Well done! Was hoping for a story after seeing a pic on the "as they lay" thread.
Congrats on a great looking ram.
Congrats on a great looking ram.
jeff_gibbons
Well-known member
Right on! Great job. Love the story, pics, rifle, cartridge and success!
Bluffgruff
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Way to bounce back and make it a great hunt!I was finally able to notch my desert bighorn tag last week. As some of you may know I was awarded this tag last year after already having drawn a late season rifle muley tag and a bull elk tag.
I only got the tag because someone returned the tag in August and I was the first alternate, I was already sitting on 18 bonus points at the time.
After much consideration I returned the buck tag because my son and brother would not have been able to take so much time of work. The 3 seasons ran almost consecutively from the first week of Nov. to Jan 31st.
As fate would have it I managed to shatter my ankle on the 2nd day of elk hunting.
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Fast forward to this year. After a lot of painful rehab my ankle is about 95% back to normal. One year and 2 days after my surgery I'm going sheep hunting.
We only had time for 1 day of scouting after my son finished his work on a hot shot crew in mid Oct. We then went to AZ to help my brother on his cow elk hunt.
We did see 2 rams on the scouting day but nothing big.
First thing on opening morning we ran into a couple of guys who were spotting for the other tag holder in the unit. Over the next 5 days we would run into them and the tag holder a few times.
On our 1st day of hunting we saw 3 rams about three miles away that needed a closer look. We got to about a mile from them but it got dark as they fed into a ravine.
During the next 3 days of hunting all over the unit with my son, brother and nephew we saw about 28 rams most of which were 1/2 curl and a couple of 3/4 curl. We saw only a few ewes and lambs up high near a sheep guzzler.
On day 5 it was just my son and me. I had the spot where we had seen the first 3 rams picked out that I wanted to watch all day if needed.
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We got there before sunrise and spotted this ram and his friend across the valley.
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We knew right away that he was a good one. Problem was they were across the valley and it was wide open from where we were. So we decided to watch them until they bedded as it began to drizzle.
We watched them for about 45 minutes as the fed up the hill and away from us. They finally got far enough away I figured I could drop into a wash in front of us and get across the valley into a deep wash that took me to the base of the mountain you see behind the ram. It worked to perfection but they had fed around the hill where I couldn't see them. My son indicated with hand signals they were still in the area.
I very slowly made my way in the direction they were feeding and eventually saw the smaller ram standing on cliff. I then got down behind a joshua tree to try to find the bigger ram. I had to crawl forward on my belly up the small hill I was on to see below the smaller ram which is where the bigger one was bedded.
I took off my day pack and belly crawled pushing my rifle in front of me until I could get a clear view of the bedded ram. I got all set up with the rifle up on the bipod and proceeded to wait in the light rain for about half an hour. It sure seemed like a lot longer.
He was at 167 yards and I was getting cold and wet. When he finally stood up I let him have it. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. I used my wife's Rem .270 using the Nosler 130 gr ballistic tips I won on the Nosler success thread from a few years ago. After the shot I heard my son yelling in triumph from across the valley.
NDOW checked him in at 7 years old.
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CRJR45
Well-known member
Cool stuff !
utah400elk
Well-known member
Congrats on a great adventure and a beautiful ram. My ankle looks like yours from a college sledding accident back in the 90s.
There were 4 other people at NDOW who also thought it was 8 years old but the biologist said that many times in drought years rams will have double annuli making them look like they have more rings.
I’m not always too sure of the biologists scoring. It’s your ram,call however you want. Great ram no matter what the age is. Truely a hunt of a lifetime
NDOW scored him at 164 1/8.
littlebighorn
Well-known member
Nevada rams generally grow fast and on most years the checkout summary lists the average ram taken is 6 or even younger.
I saw the double annuli ring on yours, but he still looks 8 to me. That said, it doesn't really matter because he's a great ram!
I would have him measured officially. When they measured mine they were off by 3+”NDOW scored him at 164 1/8.
Hawk Tuah
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- Apr 6, 2018
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Wow that's a great ram!!
7mm08mo
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Congratulations on a great ram!!
BackofBeyond
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Very cool. Congrats.
Caseknife
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Beautiful ram, congrats. Send a tooth into Matson's, then you will know the age for sure.
Khunter
Well-known member
congrats and thanks for sharing the story!
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